Iraq suicide blast kills up to 32 at hall

The bomber, a relative of the host, targeted Sunnis and Shiites attending a reconciliation lunch.
By Anthony Shadid and Saad Sarhan
The Washington Post
Posted: 01/04/2009 12:30:00 AM MST

BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber sneaked through the back door of a crowded hall where guests had gathered Friday for a reconciliation lunch at the invitation of a tribal leader, killing as many as 32 people and wounding dozens more in the worst attack in Iraq in weeks.

Iraqi officials said the assailant, a relative of the host, was a familiar presence around the house, making it easier for him to pass unsearched through an entrance usually reserved for women. Once inside the hall in the conservative town of Yusufiyah, about 12 miles south of Baghdad, he detonated explosives that he had strapped around his waist, said Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, a spokesman for the Iraqi Defense Ministry.

Capt. Muthanna Ahmed, a spokesman for the provincial police, said 32 people were killed and 70 wounded. But in the confused aftermath of the attack, there were discrepancies in the toll. Atta said 23 people were killed and 42 were wounded. The U.S. military said initial reports, based on local sources, put the toll at 23 killed and 32 wounded.

The attack marks the worst in Iraq since a suicide bomber killed 57 people at a Dec. 11 meeting of Arab and Kurdish leaders who had gathered to discuss ways to reduce tensions in the contested northern city of Kirkuk. A car bombing in Baghdad on Dec. 27 killed at least 22 people.

Ahmed said Friday's gathering was convened to foster reconciliation between Sunni and Shiite tribes in a region once so violent that residents had nicknamed it the Triangle of Death. The Sunni tribal leader who hosted the lunch, Mohammed Abdullah al-Qaraghouli, was among the wounded, Ahmed said, but his injuries appeared to be light.

The area south of Baghdad, with a combustible mix of tribes and religious sects, was once one of Iraq's most dangerous. But as in much of the country, except for the troubled region around the northern city of Mosul, violence has dropped markedly the past year, though attacks like Friday's have shattered any pretense of enduring calm.

Tribal leaders, especially those who have chosen to turn against the insurgency, have frequently been targeted.

Preparations for provincial elections on Jan. 31 have stepped up across the Arab regions of Iraq, promising to recalibrate political power in the country for the first time since the last elections were held in 2005. No vote will be held in the northern, predominantly Kurdish regions.

Many in the country expect violence to escalate in the competition over the vote, with traditional Sunni parties losing influence to groups such as the Sons of Iraq and rival Shiite parties jockeying for influence in Basra and the southern provinces of the country.